Distortion
by TheDragonLover
Summary: Tsuku is your average, cussing, hate-the-world Absol with an incompetent Trainer, but one day that all changes when he is killed trying to protect her. He is offered to be sent back to the world of the living...but with a catch. For Srgeman. DISCONTINUED.
1. Chapter 1

_Just as a note, I did not make up the idea of reborns – and neither did srgeman. _

_This is a present to him for his birthday, probably a short story if not a fewshot. He suggested the idea after I racked my brain for a present for him, and I have to say I thank him for giving me the idea for it! XP It's kind of like hinting to your parents that "that game looks pretty cool, ya know" while looking all innocent and stuff. Anyways, enough rambling! Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or the idea of reborns, nor the Pokemon species, but I do own the personality of the characters (except for a select few)._

_Characters in Chapter One:_

_Tsukuyomi the Male Absol, is Celia's Pokemon_

_Celia Rosemary, works at a café_

_Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokemon_

_Timothy Hunter, the poor boy who died in his brain_

* * *

_Crash!_

"Everybody, get down on the ground – now!"

Sitting on the soft tacky couch in the quiet café, the white sphinx-like creature's head snapped up as he heard a dreadful scream from the other side of the counter, and he shouted, "Celia!" Of course, to any human it would just sound like a frantic "sol", but nobody was listening to him as he leapt over the smooth marble surface to come across a man holding a gun to a brunette, her new-leaf eyes wide with terror. He had a ski mask to hide his identity, but in his mouth was a cigar that he clenched with his teeth as he grinned at the Pokemon snarling at him.

"You take one step forward, and li'l Missy here'll lose her pretty li'l head!" When he knew the Disaster Pokemon wouldn't move, as wouldn't the others there, he smirked and told him, "There ya go! Now, see how adept your paws are at getting me some of that cash!"

A scowl lined with a deep hatred marred the Absol's face as he backed carefully over to the cash register, turning his back on the man only to jump up and smack the drawer open easily with his heavy paws. He then grabbed the drawer with his teeth, jerking it from the rest of the register and getting off of the counter to carefully pad closer to the armed man.

"There you go, nice and easy…yeah, just set it right there."

The Absol scoffed, and suddenly he flung the drawer and smacked the man square between the eyes with the metal corner, producing a sickening _clack_ of metal against skin and bone. As blood seeped from the tear in the mask the white Pokemon leapt and grabbed the teen's shirt with his teeth, dragging her from his grip as he blindly wiped away the blood from his eyes.

She was about to thank her Pokemon profusely when the sound of clicking caught their attention, and they looked to see the man angrily holding the Uzi as he glared with one eye open.

"That's it," he shouted, gripping the trigger tensely, "I've had it with you, you white bastard!"

Celia gasped and lifted her arm as if to stop him, but her Pokemon stood before her like a shield, daring him to shoot. She told him, "Tsuku, no!"

As the man clenched the trigger to shoot, the Absol leapt up and went to attack the man, fangs bared and claws sharp as glaives –

* * *

"Oomph!" Instead of mauling warm flesh the Absol found himself colliding with the cold, hard ground, and he gritted his teeth and sucked air between them as he groaned, "Shit, that hurt…."

"Get up."

The callous voice made his back stiffen as he leapt to his feet, but he was unprepared for the black abyss that he saw (or, rather, couldn't see) and felt nauseous as he nearly lost his balance. Squinting his eyes to try to find light, he was startled when the voice spoke again.

"Turn around…." After a moment of silence, there was a mumbled, "…moron."

Doing as he was told (if not reluctantly), he whipped around and caught sight of a humanoid creature that oddly resembled a feline. With white fur all over his body (excluding his stomach and tail, which were an amethyst color) and eyes as dark and cold as the abyss around him, the piercing stare he gave the Absol was enough to make him shiver. How he saw all of this without light, he had no clue.

"Do you know why you are here?"

After a moment of deep thought, the Disaster Pokemon perked up as his eyes widened in alarm and fright. "Celia!" He glanced around frantically, trying to find his Trainer as the feline before him frowned. "Where is she? That maniac – the gun! I have to protect her!"

"There's no need." When Tsuku looked at him in panicked confusion, his frown deepened. "She's safe, and you…are dead." His lips did not move although he could hear his voice clearly, which made about as much sense as everything else that had happened to him.

"…_Dead?_" He shook his head. "No…no, I _can't_ be dead. I was leaping, and –"

"And he pulled the trigger, where several bullets tore through your skin while one pierced your heart, killing you instantly." He sounded like he was shrugging verbally at that, like one would after talking about something stupid they did last summer. ("Oh, yeah, I remember that." Shrug. "I was such an idiot back then, huh?") It didn't seem to fit the situation, but then again, what _was_ the situation?

"H-how can I be dead?" He couldn't understand it – a moment ago, he was protecting Celia! How could it all change so drastically without him noticing? "I have a Trainer, and we…I have to be with her! What's going on?"

"Most Pokemon go through this stage as well," the feline stated the fact like one would point out the weather. "Especially ones owned by Trainers. It'll pass."

"No, no!" Tsuku shook his head. "It can't end like this! I'm too young! Celia needs me! Without me, she'll…hell, she'll end up killing herself!"

"You have such little faith in her."

"No, I just know her too well!" He wanted to step forward but found that he couldn't move, as if his paws were glued to the floor, and so he instead just begged from afar. "Please, you have to send me back! I can't just leave her!"

"I don't _have_ to do anything." The feline's eyes narrowed at the panicking Absol's demeanor, and then he was mysteriously calm as he told him, "I wanted to do something, either way. I haven't bent the rules in a long time."

Tsuku was cautious at the sound of that. "'Bent the rules'?"

He avoided the question by instead asking, "Do you want to return to your Trainer or not?"

Noting the evasive maneuver, he nodded earnestly. "More than anything in the world," he added. To be honest, he was afraid of death – he was sure he would be suffering in some dark abyss – and this was a godsend. Plus, he could protect Celia.

"I warn you," the feline told him, "this won't be what you expected. There's a catch to your…"second chance"."

"…A catch?" That phrase made him rethink his eagerness to accept the deal. "What would that be?"

"You will not be in the same body you were born in. Of course, that's obvious considering it's mangled beyond repair. You will, actually, not even be a Pokemon."

After a moment of thinking, he still didn't get it. "How could I not be –"

"Don't act dense. Try thinking for once."

"Don't insult me, you cat…thing!"

"My name is Mewtwo," his tail twitched irritably at the way the Absol spoke to him, "and I don't think you're in the position to order me around, Tsukuyomi."

His eyes grew wide and he took a step back in the abyss. "H-how do you know my name?"

"Doesn't matter how, does it?" As he silently agreed with that, he listened to what 'Mewtwo' had to say. "When you are reborn, you will not be an Absol. You will not be a Pokemon. You will be a human."

"A _human?_ How? Why?"

"As I said before, I haven't bent the rules in a while." He looked once more like he would shrug and grin, if he would move anything other than his tail and actually move his mouth for once. "And I believe I am justified in this case."

"How?"

Mewtwo closed his coal-like eyes. "You ask too many questions. Do you want this or not?"

"Yes!" He nodded desperately. "Yes, I do!"

"Then hold still."

"Wh–" Suddenly, a bright flash of light overcame his senses –

* * *

"…wha?"

"Doctor? What is it?"

"L-look at him! He's blinking! Am – am I the only one seeing this?"

"No, you aren't! Nurse, come quick!"

"What? He's trying to say something!"

"Tim? Timothy, speak up, I can't hear you!"

"…Ts…." The black-haired boy, only a young teen, who had been imprisoned in this hospital for over a year, was trying to speak. "…Ts…Tsuku…yomi…."

"…huh?" The nurse frowned. "What are…isn't that a Japanese goddess?" The boy then fell unconscious. "Wait! Wait, Timothy! Timothy, wake up!"

* * *

…_*dies*_

_How was it? Had to do this before I gave the laptop to my mom. Gotta run! Bye! (Just chapter one, obviously not done with the story!)_

* * *

Lots of dragon-y love (and cookies!),  
~DL ('Dragon Lover')


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter two to srgeman's present! Yay! I hope I do as well as – if not more – I did last chapter. O.o Surprisingly, this quickly got reviews, and I was kinda shocked (other than Lady of DarkFire, Sanablades, Alchemist-Lightning-Rini, and srgeman himself, who I kind of expected to read it) to be honest. I really only need to know that srgeman likes it, but it's nice to hear others appreciate the work I did! X3_

_Characters for Chapter Two:_

_Tsukuyomi the Male Absol, is Celia's Pokemon_

_Celia Rosemary, works at a café_

_Timothy Hunter, the poor boy who died in his brain_

_Martha and Stuart Hunter, Timothy's mother and father_

_Robert and Brigitte Hunter, Timothy's brother and sister_

* * *

The first thing Tsuku could see was the harsh lights of the hospital, and as he squinted his eyes shut tightly the first thing he heard was, "Tim? Timmy, is that you?" The first thing he felt was a warm touch on his arm and then a cooling wet sensation on his forehead. The first thing he tasted was the bland and sickening taste of his spit, and the first thing he smelled was the harsh cleanliness of the room.

The first thing he thought was, _what the hell did I agree to?_

After the initial shock of suddenly feeling air around him, he slowly cracked a chestnut-colored eye open to see a blurry face looking down at him. He shifted his arm covered in warmth with a 'mmm', feeling overheated with the thing laying on him. When it was quickly removed, however, a blasting chill overcome him, and he shivered. _Humans are ridiculous; they're never satisfied._ Not liking the wetness that dripped from above, he let his eyelids part more and clarified the face that stared back at him. Her skin was soft and peach-toned as her cheeks were wet with tears, and her dirty-blonde hair was in a crazy mess of a ponytail that looked last minute.

"Timmy! Oh, my dear boy!"

He stiffened up as the woman leaned forward and hugged him, pushing him up against the bed as she kissed his forehead and said a prayer. Feeling awkward and claustrophobic, he grunted and tried to form words, but because he was unused to these new vocal cords, all he could manage was, "…heavy…."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Timmy!" The woman leaned up and gave a bittersweet smile. "I guess after sitting in this bed for so long that…your muscles and body got weak and lazy. Kind of like your father," she added with a laugh, a twittering noise that would calm most people but unnerved Tsuku because of how casual it sounded. It was like she expected him to open up and release everything he had experienced, all of the problems and pain….

It made him anxious, that kind of pressure.

He shifted, cold but not wanting to be smothered in the blanket once more, and he gulped and choked, "Water…." Apparently, the body he occupied now got everything through an IV, and so his mouth seemed dry and cracked from misuse, making it painful to talk. The woman nodded and pressed a button that lit up with a _ding,_ and eventually a nurse walked into the room to get the order. When she returned with the glass and set it on the table, Tsuku raised his arm only to realize he didn't know how to work it. _Err…you move it…like this?_

When he nearly knocked over the cup, the dirty-blonde finally picked it up and whispered, "Here, let me help you, dear…." Relenting with a probably noticeable lack of enthusiasm, he closed his eyes and savored the drink, as if he had been without water for decades. It was like he had finally reached heaven, which was ironic considering he was "reborn".

When reminded of the situation, he frowned and furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to figure out what Mewtwo's motives were. _I highly doubt that anybody with that sort of power would bring someone to life "just 'cause". Plus, he mentioned something about bending the rules. What rules does he have to follow, and which one is he bending?_

He felt like the feline was telling him to "not bother trying to think too hard" as he got the distinct feeling someone was laughing at him. To make it all worse, he sneezed, a disturbing experience for one used to staring at the ground while doing so as he was instead looking up. Scowling at the world in general, his attention drew back to the woman as she sighed heavily, putting her hands in her lap as she sat beside the bedridden Pokemon-turned-human. He glanced up at her with curiosity as she looked at him sadly.

"It's too bad your brother and sister couldn't be here to see you," she explained after an awkward silence. "They would have loved to know that you were finally awake."

He gulped, but not because of a dry throat. _Brother? Sister? Damn, talk about a "catch"; I have to deal with an entire family! Why couldn't it be someone who had no family? Complications, indeed._ Then, he added mentally, _and I still have to find Celia. Damn, I have a lot on my plate._

Evidently, he had a confused look on his face, because she frowned at him peculiarly and asked, "What's wrong? What, don't you remember? Your brother and sister?" When he remained silent and unmoving, her eyes slowly grew wide as she put a hand on his stomach. "Really? Nothing?"

Finally, to distill the tension, he shook his head and confirmed, "Nothing." _No use in trying to lie to her._

Her lip trembled, and she put her head down and sobbed, "Oh, my poor boy!" She cried as he sat there, unsure of what to do, until a nurse came by and helped the woman step outside to calm down. As he lay there, nothing to do, he inhaled deeply and let the air out several times.

"Damn."

* * *

From what he gathered the next couple of days, he was the middle child in a family of five, which included his parents, Martha and Stuart Hunter, and his brother, Robert, and sister, Brigitte. They wouldn't tell him how exactly he had came to be bedridden and brain-dead in the first place, but he had been there for over fifteen months. So essentially, it seemed that he had been put into a body that wasn't being really used. _"No harm, no foul", I suppose._ The doctors couldn't find plausible explanations for his "recovery", and so they left it at that and just helped him recuperate from his body's lack of activity.

The rest he didn't really bother to remember, which he felt guilty but really couldn't be blamed for considering his situation. He didn't try to remember any "school friends" he had had or classes he had took, and he sure as hell didn't try to remember the hobbies Timmy had had before the "incident".

All that he cared about was finding Celia.

Occasionally, he'd get interested in something "his mother" was talking about, but it normally had to do with anybody that he had met. If he had met any girls. What the girls looked like. None of them fit his trainer's description, and he was disheartened by the thought that he had no clue where he was on the planet.

_Dammit! It's getting more complicated by the minute! I feel like I should have "read the fine print"…._

One day, after getting exhausted from the simple exercise of bending his knees – he had nearly collapsed, he was so weak – he collapsed onto his hospital bed and realized he had a roommate.

It had been empty when Timmy had been brain-dead, but now that Tsuku occupied the body they decided he wasn't creepy enough to isolate anymore. He noticed that the curtains were up, which was suspicious enough, but there was also a hushed conversation behind it. Too tired to try to eavesdrop, he simply lay there with his eyes closed until he heard footsteps and saw a man walk away with a grim look on his face. Later, he figured out the man was a lawyer and his client was dying, and they had been dismally discussing his will. It seemed they had been good friends, for Tsuku had noticed a tear on his face, but he couldn't really feel sorry for them because he was still too detached from the rest of the world, like being at a movie theater; you pitied the characters but didn't fully feel for them.

Only a couple of days after that, the man finally breathed his last in the world, and as people mourned outside of the room by the window the former Absol pondered over the possibility of the guy being "reincarnated" like he had. _But, I was killed young, and he seemed to have lived a good life. Maybe…it's best for him to move on to whatever there is after death._ The topic made him shiver and he quickly turned his attention to the fact that he was getting another roommate.

Death was everywhere, and life went on.

* * *

_The chapters are kind of short, but I wanted to focus on certain things for specific chapters; the first one was for how Tsukuyomi turned into a "reverse reborn", and this one was to focus on his first attempts at getting accustomed to his new body. Sorry if you don't like it, I just couldn't think of a better way to end this one! Hope you like the update, guys!_

* * *

_Lots of dragon-y love (and cookies!),_

_~DL ('Dragon Lover')_


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter three of srge's present, and I have to say, I'm surprised so many people like it! Is srge telling you all to review behind my back or something? Seriously, I don't normally get these many reviews from people I've never (or hardly) met before for any of my other stories…eh, whatever._

_Characters for Chapter Two:_

_Tsukuyomi the Male Absol, is Celia's Pokemon_

_Celia Rosemary, works at a café_

_Timothy Hunter, the poor boy who died in his brain_

_Martha and Stuart Hunter, Timothy's mother and father_

_Robert and Brigitte Hunter, Timothy's brother and sister_

* * *

The next morning, Tsuku got his roommate.

Unfortunately, he didn't get to see his roommate for the first week, because apparently the patient was 'too damaged to be seen without hurling', as one of the nurses said when he asked. Sighing and shaking his head at that (_I _have_ died before, so I doubt this would shellshock me or anything…._), he just let it be as he tried to focus on conquering the oddities of being human.

"Don't you remember how to eat with a spoon, Timmy?" His 'mother' smiled at him and took the utensil from him to feed him herself. "Gosh, you're so silly!"

_Kill me again,_ he mentally grumbled as he reluctantly opened his mouth for the soup, _or at least give me a damn clue to where Celia is._

"_Oh, but that would be too easy!"_

He could imagine Mewtwo saying that. He growled and focused on trying to coax Martha to let him try again. This time, after a few mishaps including ruining her good shirt, he got it right, and he glowed a bit with pride as he thought, _well, this isn't too hard after all!_

"Alright, Timmy," the nurse came in, waving a plastic cup at him, "it's time for a urine sample!"

He frowned.

…_Shit._

* * *

Eventually, he got the hang of his 'business' as well as dressing and undressing, but he still felt awkward using his hands. Not used to opposable thumbs, sometimes he'd misjudge and throw the cups of water onto his 'mother' instead of drinking it. The doctors, of course, made up that he was recovering, but he knew they found it odd. _Damn humans and their thumbs._

After a while, the curtain that hid his roommate was removed, and he saw a little boy strapped to the bed with an oxygen mask over his mouth and IVs feeding him regularly. Apparently, he was a victim from a fire in an apartment, and the nasty burns all over his body were evidence. It seemed that he had very low chances of living, but his father was very wealthy and kept him there for extensive help and many, many skin grafts.

At least, that's what Tsuku gathered from nurse chatter, anyways. They did love to gossip.

One day, as he was walking around the hospital room (he was still shaky, so they gave him one of those walkers that the elderly used to walk around) for exercise, he stepped beside the bed with the boy and got a real good look at him as he slept. He had pretty pale brown hair, almost a soft purple color, and his eyes (when open) were a stunning turquoise blue. He would have been the epitome of adorable before the fire.

After a while of him standing there, the boy seemed to notice his presence and his eyes fluttered open lazily, peering at the once-Absol with a half-lidded gaze. Despite him not being able to speak with the oxygen mask, his expression said it all:

_Kill me…please…I can't live on like this._

Tsuku stared at the boy for a moment more before glancing at his heart rate, seeing it was relatively normal. Then, he moseyed on to the other side of the bed and slightly jerked at the IV in his arm. The boy flinched, and the beeping increased in his panic and aching.

"Is that what you want," the once-Pokemon asked him quietly, "to feel pain?" When his gaze did not change, he told him, "Despite what you may think, Death is not an escape to a numb life. It only brings more pain than you had while living."

The boy's eyes glazed over in semi-consciousness as he was too exhausted to do anything more than just sleep, and Tsuku sighed and went back to his bed to sit on the edge and put his head in his painfully human hands.

_I want to reach out to him…but how can I explain that he doesn't want to die?_

Suddenly, he felt a chill, and he raised his head up to glance around the room. Although nothing was there, he thought he heard someone say with a dark chuckle, "You cannot explain matters to those who refuse to listen." Then, as the cool breeze seem to leave the room, he looked around and saw that the window was closed. The AC hadn't been changed, and the wind couldn't have gotten in through the glass….

* * *

Tsuku couldn't remember how many days had passed by now; all he knew was that the boy was gone and he had the room to himself again. As he coped with the mental stress of needing to find Celia and the physical stress of his body getting used to moving, he tried to occupy himself with other things.

He tried painting, but it ended up looking like something worthy of a psychiatrist session of ink blots. He tried poetry, but he couldn't seem to get past the first line of any poem he started. He tried reading, but he got bored after the first chapter and threw the book down. The only thing he _could_ do was watch the television and be bored to tears by the bad shows on.

_You would think a man brilliant enough to create the television would also be bright enough to make some good damn shows to go with it,_ he commented silently as he watched a terrible soap opera about the 'end of the world', but his quiet mocking of humans' intellect was interrupted when a small knock on the door broke through to him. Coming back to reality was rocky, and he cleared his throat to sound more authoritative as he told whoever it was to come in.

The door creaked open, and a curly redhead poked her head in through the crack to look at him nervously. After a moment of standing there unsure of what to do, she opened it up fully and walked in, followed by a dirty-blonde haired boy that looked rather annoyed. He seemed younger than both her and Tsuku, and he seemed to be aspiring to be a Trainer because he had the trademark vest-and-cap outfit that seemed to be 'all the rage' in Hoenn nowadays.

_Wait, maybe that means I'm in Hoenn after all!_ A bit glad at that information, he decided to look indifferent instead of glaring like he had planned to earlier. They walked up to him, the girl nervous and the boy annoyed, and then it became completely quiet as the two didn't move to start a conversation.

_Shit, I'm not good at that…._ But, since they weren't going to, he was left to do it, and so he sighed heavily and asked, "Yes? What do you want?"

"So it _is_ true," the girl whispered, and she turned to the other and asked, "Can you believe he forgot about us, Robby?"

"_I_ say he's just pretending." The younger boy, probably not even seven yet, scoffed as he glared at Tsuku. "He just wants the attention, like always."

_Little shit, I'll show him attention!_ Tsuku narrowed his eyes at the boy. "I presume you are supposed to be my brother, Robert Hunter, otherwise known as Robby?" As he continued to glare at him, he turned his gaze to Brigitte. "And you're Brigitte, my sister."

"Yes!" She went over and hugged him happily, exclaiming, "Oh, I'm glad you at least know our names!" Then, as if feeling awkward for not getting a hug back, she let go and smiled sheepishly. "It's a start, at least."

"Oh, come off it, Brig!" Robby glared at the former Pokemon and shouted, "He's just yanking our chain!"

"He's never done that before," she scolded him harshly, and as he pouted she told him, "Now stop whining before I tell Mom and Pa how bad you were today."

"Hmph, whatever." He turned around and walked out, leaving the other two to stare after him as he walked to the ice cream machine. After sighing, Brig turned back to Tsuku and said, "I'm sorry, Timmy, but…he's happy you're back, too. He hasn't been the same since…well…you know…."

_Actually, I don't._ Deciding to leave it be, however, he instead asked her, "Could I ask you a favor?"

"Hm?" She tilted her head curiously, looking at him closely before nodding slowly. "Yes, ask away."

"Could I…have a nickname? A different one, of course." When she looked at him confused, he sighed and explained, "I want to be called…Tsuku."

"Can I ask why?"

"I'd rather you wouldn't."

She sighed, but relented. "Alright, I'll tell everyone else to. Take care, alright?" When he nodded mutely, she sighed lightly and quietly left the room, closing the door behind her as if not to wake a sleeping baby. As she went to probably take care of her younger brother, Tsuku let out a heavy, angry groan.

_Why must there always be a catch to every offer?_

* * *

_Alright, that's all I have for this update! I don't want to progress too much too fast, so y'all will just have to deal with the "slowness" some reviewers are complaining about. Although, someone did say it was going too fast…oh, well, I can't please everyone. And besides, this IS supposed to be a present for srgeman, so it isn't here to get me a bunch of reviews (although all are extremely appreciated). Hope srge and the others who like this story will stick around for a bit longer! Auf Veidersehen, meine Freunde! (I think that's how you say it…correct me if I'm wrong.)_

* * *

_Lots of dragon-y love (and cookies!),  
~DL ('Dragon Lover')_


End file.
